In this presentation I explore choices that I had to make while conducting interviews with my Russian peers and consequently translating them into English. Cross-language research usually refers to situation where there is a language barrier between interviewer and interviewees (Squires, 2008). In such cases, researchers often turn to interpreters to assist with interviews. It has been suggested that interpreters’ involvement affects the “trustworthiness” of data (Temple, 2002), which presents certain methodological challenges for the data analysis. In these cases, the ethical question that often comes up is: “Who does the translation?”

In my presentation, I extend the definition of cross-language research to include the process of data translation, where I act both as the interviewer and as the translator. I examine my involvement with participants’ data, data translation and transcription, drawing upon Bucholtz (2000) critique of data transcription as well as translation theories that challenge concepts of fidelity and equivalence (Ross, 2010). Thus, I ask a question: “Who decides if the translation is “good”?” To try and answer this question, I present five cases when I faced dilemmas in translating Russian interviews into English, and subsequent decisions that I had to make in their transcription. I contrast my experience against concerns that are addressed by other researchers working in multilingual setting, and suggest principles of ethical handling of this type of data.